Chinta Blues

6 Acland St, St KildaPhone: 9534 9233

I don’t often go South of the river, as regular readers will know. It used to be an ideological thing, but then when Mr N moved South, that changed. I started to embrace the idea of heading to St Kilda, or South Yarra, and it didn’t seem like such of a chore. To be honest, it helped that he would drive everywhere, so I wouldn’t have to deal with schlepping about on public transport, or the inevitable headache of navigating the least traffic-fraught route across the river.

So when Penny initiated the Melbourne Food Blogger’s Dinner, and I received an email saying that it was going to be hosted by Miss Jackson, I’ll admit I had only a vague idea of where Miss Jackson was. It’s in St Kilda, right? Right.

After our initial meeting, we thought we’d sneakily duck over to Chinta Blues for a quick bit of hawker satisfaction. I don’t know why, but I was a little surprised at how down to earth Chinta Blues was. I guess its proximity to Lau’s Family Kitchen and Il Fornaio just made me assume it would be more of an upmarket proposition. And the idea of high end combined with hawker food just doesn’t quite sit right with me. Partly why I’ve never been to Gingerboy, and have no real desire to, I guess.

Anyway, I always like to judge a Malaysian restaurant on two things, if they’re available: the laksa, and the char kway teow. I wasn’t in the mood for a laksa that evening, so I opted for the char kway teow.

It was a good rendition plenty of wok hei and well seasoned. A serve of sambal came on the side, but I only needed half of it. My only complaint was I would have preferred it a little more heavily charred, but I’m splitting hairs now.

Ms J had the hokkien mee, which looked pretty appetising, but I’m not sure about the shredded lettuce on top. It seems a little mealy to me, but maybe it’s a traditional thing I don’t know about, so I’m not going to question it too much.

The other three at the table chose the laksa, which is apparently what they all order whenever they go to Chinta Blues. So, I’m guessing it’s good. I didn’t really feel comfortable asking for a taste, as I hadn’t met Mr M and Ms S before.

Mr M and Ms S shared a serve of the roti as well, which is a good idea in my book, because I always end up wanting to mop up the laksa broth after all my noodles have disappeared.

I’m glad that there are decent, cheap and tasty options south of the river. I think my tendency to think of everything over there as homogonised and plasticky is probably unjustified. Even if Chinta Blues is part of a chain!

One Reply to “Chinta Blues”

Chinta Blues was my local 'hawker' for 2 years ; ). The hawker fare is so-so to me, so I didn't go that often. Chinta Ria's (further fown Acland) char kway teow is a lot better, has that wok fired charcoal-ey taste.